Eminent singer,arranger and composer Ashit Desai completes 60 years. So his family and friends have decided to earmark this momentous occasion with music. Ashit Desai has had a wonderful musical journey with associations with Pt. Ravi Shankar,music director Jaidev,his singing Vaishnava jan and Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram for Gandhi and his score for the television series Chanakya. He was conferred with the Asiad Jyoti award by the President of India for his musical contributions during the Asiad Games in 1982. The closing ceremony of Festival of India in Russia was also conducted by Desai under his guidance He has a number of musical albums,title-songs of serials and dance ballets under his name and has been influential in popularising Gujarati light classical music across the world. His association with dancers of repute,from Pt.Durgalal to Protima Bedi and Hema Malini have resulted in some wonderful ballets and musical scores. On the occasion of his 60th birthday,a grand celebration was held at Mumbais Bhaidas Auditorium on May 16. Hariharan,Anup Jalota,Suresh Wadkar,Aarti Munshi,Nisha Kapadia,Saumil Munshi,Soli Kapadia,Aalap Desai and Hema Desai performed on the occasion,while three new albums and a coffee-table book on Ashit Desai were also released. Morari Bapu presided over the function.
